I can't stand the bad runs

[bunky9590]

Well, isn't this a nice thread.

Alright kiddo, let me give you some "non professional" advice.

I just went through a 2 1/2 MONTH bad run. I took some time off, almost a week, and didnt come back and play until I was ready. When I came back I was fresh and ready to play. I also came back playing my A game again. Shorthanded limit Hold'em. The 5-10 6 max.

Now as well all know that game is variance city.

Dropped -110 BB to start and slept well every night. After that I reversed the entire downswing and am now up over 400BB in the past 3 weeks. Im playing well, (for the most part and even when Ive dropped 70 BB in a session, I don;t let it get to me.

Some cat chased down a 2 outer last night with a pair of 2's to the river to catch a boat on my flopped flush. I just chuckled and get at him. He eventually dropped all his money.

You my friend, need a break, in a bad way. If you are thinking about going pro (or if you have already done so) I highly suggest you change careers. I play it as a profitable hobby. Its not my life, I have fun doing it, and the $$ isn't that important to me. But, I use very good BR management, and it beats watching TV.

You are taking this game way too seriously. I know, I've been there, its not a good thing. Take a break, dont read about it, dont play it until you are clear headed and ready to return.

That could be a few days, it could be a week or two, it could be a month or more. But, do not play until you realize what this GAME is all about.

All due respect but it seems as if you need to mature a lot more if you are hitting walls and doing stuff like that oer a poker game. Ive lost $1000 pots and never hit anything, maybe its your age showing.

Tough love,

Gregg

[faustusmedea]

I think this is an interesting post because obviously all poker players can relate to at least some degree. The replies all tended to hone in on the "punch or hit things" angle and correctly point out there are some larger clouds here that cry out for a break.

OTOH, the poster remains frustrated because he is seeking an "answer". And this is the zen of the problem, because there is no "start doing this at the table and all your bad beats will go away". You can take up kickboxing to relieve your frustration, but if you sit down and take some terrible statistical variances in your next session, the problem still remains.

The truth is, the only thing you can do is try to become humble. Continue to seek answers to areas where your play is not optimal so that the benefits of improvement there can offset the drama created by tough beats. Set some session limits; both time and dollars in order to prevent a single session from becoming a killer.

Finally, try and make sure you play more B&M poker. If all of your play is online, the civility of the game goes out the window. You are not dealing face to face with humans and thus it gets very easy to blow up. Its a lot harder to boil over in public with other humans; though I'm sure we have all seen the occasional altercation in a poker room. Usually though when you take tough beats live, others will console you one way or the other and give you the reinforcement necessary to play well; even if it is just that knowing grin from seat 3.

I think you also have to sometimes ignore the questions about "needing the money". If you have set your mind to tackling Poker as a profession, than of course you need the money and of course it will be an ongoing issue until you pop a WPT event. Oh yeah, it will still be an issue, because you will want to enter more events and play in bigger games.

Oddly, I think an area that you might find helpful is to say for every 10 hours of poker that I play, I am going to find a way to volunteer for some good purpose 1 hour. It is too easy to get an attitude the cards are stacked against you and by giving of yourself, you will start to realize others have it worse, karma can help and your attitude will improve.

[Al Schoonmaker]

The bad news is that it took you too long to recognize that you were playing badly. However, I must tell you that I and most experienced players have done it too (more times that I care to remember).

The good news is that you finally recognized your mistakes. Some people never do. In fact, the worse they play, the more they insist that they are just being unlucky.

If you keep monitoring your play, you will be miles ahead of people who don't.

Regards,

Al